The Open Access Landscape: 26. Religion

Religionincludes journals on specific religions (and religious figures) and aspects of religion or non-religion. While these journals could plausibly be grouped with philosophy, they’re quite different, as we’ll see. The group includes 65 journals that published 1,603 articles in 2013 and 1,811 articles in 2014.

Grades

Grade

Journals

%J

Articles

%A

A/J

A

41

63%

1,112

69%

27

Free

37

90%

660

59%

18

Pay

4

10%

452

41%

113

B

4

6%

241

15%

60

Free

2

50%

26

11%

13

Pay

2

50%

215

89%

108

C

1

2%

141

9%

141

Pay

1

100%

141

100%

141

D

19

29%

109

7%

6

Free

18

95%

66

61%

4

Pay

1

5%

43

39%

43

Table 26.1. Religion journals and articles by grade

Table 26.1 shows the number of journals and 2013 articles for each grade; free and pay numbers (there are no unknowns); and average articles per journal. Boldface percentages are percentages of the whole set; others are percentages of the grade above. There are no A$ journals (none that charge $1,000 or more APC.)

These are fairly startling numbers—specifically, the articles per journal and resulting percentage differences between journals (where, as is usual for the humanities and social sciences, free journals dominate) and articles (where the percentage of articles in free journals is very low for HSS). Pay-journals average at least five times as many articles as free journals.

The percentage of D journals is unusually high and includes these subgroups: C (probably ceased), three journals with no 2013 articles; E (erratic), two journals with 49 articles; H (hiatus?), one journal with 13 articles; S (small), 13 journals with 47 articles.

Article Volume (including all of 2014)

2014

2013

2012

2011

Journals

58

61

63

60

%Free

86%

87%

87%

90%

Articles

1,811

1,603

1,555

1,493

%Free

49%

47%

53%

51%

Table 26.2. Religion journals and articles by date

Table 26.2 shows the number of journals that actually published articles in each year, how many articles they published (including all of 2014), and what percentage was free.

The percentage of free journals is fairly typical for humanities and social sciences and declined a bit over the four years—but the percentage of articles in those journals is extremely low for HSS, although it hasn’t changed all that much (or in any regular fashion).

OA activity in religion seems to be increasing at a reasonable rate.

Looking at individual journals, 27 published more articles in 2014 than in 2013; 13 published the same number (including three with no articles in either year); 25 published fewer articles in 2014. In terms of significant changes, 23 (35%) published at least 10% more articles in 2014, and exactly the same number—21 or 32%–stayed about the same or declined by at least 10%, including five journals that published articles in 2013 but have no 2014 articles as of early May 2015.

Journals

No-Fee %

Articles

No-Fee %

Large

1

0%

355

0%

Medium

4

0%

401

0%

Small

21

86%

524

82%

Sparse

39

100%

323

100%

Table 26.3. Religion journals by peak article volume

Table 26.3 shows the number of journals in each size category (there are no prolific journals in this area, and in fact none with more than 400 articles per year), 2013 articles for journals in that group, and the no-fee percentages. Once again, this is a field of extreme: mostly sparse journals, none of them charging APCs, with a handful of medium and large journals—all of them charging APCs.

Fees (APCs)

APC

Jour.

%Fee

%All

Art.

%Fee

%All

Medium

2

25%

3%

239

28%

15%

Low

3

38%

5%

205

24%

13%

Nominal

3

38%

5%

407

48%

25%

None

57

88%

752

47%

Table 26.4. Religion journals and articles by fee range

Table 26.4 shows the number of journals in each fee range and the number of 2013 articles for those journals. Just as there are no prolific journals in religion, there are no high-priced journals: no journal hits or exceeds the $800 mark.

There are so few APC-charging journals that notes comparing the distribution of charges to the 25% per row that holds for the broader study are irrelevant. It is interesting that nominal-fee journals actually publish more articles per journal than low-priced journals.

Starting Dates and the Gold Rush

Year

Total

Free%

Pre-1960

1

100%

1960-69

1

0%

1970-79

2

50%

1980-89

2

0%

1992-93

1

100%

1994-95

2

100%

1996-97

7

100%

1998-99

5

80%

2000-01

3

100%

2002-03

8

100%

2004-05

5

100%

2006-07

7

100%

2008-09

5

80%

2010-11

13

92%

2012-13

3

67%

Table 26.5. Starting dates for religion OA journals

Table 26.5 shows religion OA journals by starting date, including the percentage of journals in each period that currently don’t charge APCs. There is no apparent gold rush (that is, a surge of APC-charging journals from 2006 through 2011). Note that no journals began in 1990-91.

Figure 26.1 shows essentially the same information in graph form. Note that there’s only one period—the 1980s—with more than one new APC-charging journal.

Figure 26.1. Religion journals by starting date

Year

Journals

Articles

Art/Jrnl

1960-69

1

117

117

1970-79

2

56

28

1980-89

2

239

120

1992-93

1

6

6

1994-95

2

27

14

1996-97

7

67

10

1998-99

5

407

81

2000-01

3

21

7

2002-03

8

199

25

2004-05

5

45

9

2006-07

6

58

10

2008-09

3

48

16

2010-11

13

274

21

2012-13

3

39

13

Table 26.6. Articles per religion journal by starting date

Table 26.6 shows journals that published articles in 2013, when they started, and the average articles per journal. There are all sorts of anomalies, but given the small numbers of journals involved, they may not be worth discussing. (When the study through 2013 was done in late 2014, the single pre-1960 journal had not published any 2013 articles.)

Overall, it’s an odd group, with most articles involving fees—very unusual for the humanities and social sciences—but non-APC journals predominating.

Definitions and notes

If you’re interested in a book-form version of this material (with an additional bonus graph and probably some additional analysis added in each chapter), let me know, either in a comment or by email to waltcrawford at gmail dot com. If you’d like to see this research continued, please contribute to Cites & Insights.

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